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Anouar Brahem – Magical oud… and more

Sorry, this is no vibes... but wow! I went to a concert last night. Anouar Brahem, the Tunisian 'Prince Of Oud' and his pals got us into a beautiful trip.

This great oriental 12 string kind of mandolin has in itself a magical sound. Anouar was accompanied by lebanese percussionist Kaled Yassine. But to complete this quartet, he chose two instruments and players from the north: German Klaus Gesing on bass clarinet and Swedish bassist Bjorn Meyer.

Stolen Moment by Bruce Wells

"Antihistamine Moments"

Hi all

Haven't posted for awhile for various reasons. This particular post is for Joe Locke and Philippe Briand. I promised them both and it has taken a little while for me to do this. Enjoy

Vid has flaws and may be out of sync a bit, but that is okey, it is what it is.

BruceW

p.s. Johan F. found my vid on YouTube and it has only been posted for a couple of minutes. Is that fast or what. Thanks again Johan.

Norbert Lucarain – Live hip vibes on TV!

Hi all,

We've talked quite a lot about vibes and popular music. Here is an example.

Yesterday I came across this vid of my vibist friend Norbert. It's not jazz, but he joined a group named 'General Elektriks' where he plays drums and vibes.

In October they were hosted on French program 'Taratata', a good musical moment where music is 100 % live. As guest was 'M', a hip famous French musician/singer (guy with the black hat). The tune they revisited 'Melodie Nelson' is from great French late composer Serge Gainsbourg.

When Will The Blues Leave by Andrew Nitolli

This is my ensemble at the University of the Arts. They're playing the Ornette Blues 'When Will the Blues Leave'.

They're a very talented bunch. Andrew Nitolli is the only freshman in the group and he's doing a great job keeping up with the older students.

Andrew is kicking ass here at the school. He's blowing through a couple transcribed solos and playing them in all the keys, and working out voicings and chords, etc.

He's a former student of Joe Locke and I know Joe is pretty proud of Andrew!

History of Mallet Instruments, Part One - Tuned Wooden Instruments

This article will delve into the family of mallet instruments made of tuned wooden bars, and will take a look at three locations where these instruments are prevalent - North America (jazz and classical), Africa (Shona music), and Central America (Guatamalan folk music). This is not meant to be an exaustive list, but will serve to highlight the vastly different music that has evolved in these places, and the fascinating variety of instruments that have been designed to play the music.

Joe Magnarelli Wisdom

Joe Magnarelli is on the road right now in spain. So he posts little words of wisdom over at the trumpet.jazzimprovonline.com. Here's his most recent post. I thought it was cool.

Just did a clinic in Llieda Spain, and realized that
when you get down to it, copying from the masters is the quickest way to get better.
You can study scales and patterns, that's cool, but when
stealing from the classic records you're getting scales and patterns too.
And you're understanding them in the context of a tune.
For example, check Fee-fi-fo-fum (spelling?)